Despite media suggestions to the contrary, demolition contractors are acting on orders
I know this is site is called Demolition News and that, as the name suggests, our job is to bring you the latest news from the world of demolition. But, every once in a while (and it does seem to happen most often on a Friday) I am overtaken by the need to vent my spleen; a pre-weekend catharsis if you will.
So what has fallen under my steely gaze this time I hear you sigh, perhaps more in abject dejection than genuine interest?
Well, I’ll tell you. I am seriously hacked off with the media: the newspapers; magazines; TV and radio channels that occasionally turn their unknowing, inaccurate and downright ignorant spotlight on this industry of ours.
Now, before anyone reaches for the keyboard to point out that I am part of the media, let’s set that aside for one second. For what I am talking about here is the media from an “outsiders looking in” perspective and not about someone who spends almost as much time in and around demolition as those he writes about (and hey, this is my site and I can make exceptions to suit my own ends).
For years, I have tolerated the media’s almost total refusal to find out more about this business of ours. I have tutted loudly as a TV news reporter has talked of “the bulldozers moving in” when there’s a wheel loader directly behind him; I have shaken my head in disappointment when a newspaper article refers to a wrecking ball and shows a photo of an excavator; and I have cringed as highly complex explosive demolition work is dismissed as “blowing stuff up”.
But what has genuinely got my goat, ruffled my feathers, rattled my cage and just generally pissed me off this time is the apparent belief among the media that demolition contractors are some form of uncontrollable marauding force that blunders about the place demolishing any structure it takes a dislike to.
Such suggestions are generally the lead into an article or news item about how local residents are up in arms (they’re always up in arms, aren’t they) about the demolition of some much-loved local landmark.
Now forgive me for stating the obvious, but to the best of my knowledge, no demolition contractor has ever randomly marked a structure for destruction. The demolition of any structure comes as a result of months and even years of planning and negotiation, 95% of which doesn’t even involve the demolition contractor.
Which makes me wonder – exactly where were the up-in-arms merchants when the local authority liaison or planning meetings were taking place? Were they, perhaps, sat at home waiting for the sound of bulldozers (that’s an excavator buddy, OK!) to trigger them into action?
Public ignorance of the demolition business is forgivable and altogether understandable. They have been raised on a series of TV exclusives in which buildings are blown up (down, surely) and fed a constant diet of ill-informed coverage of high profile demolition contracts by – yep, you guessed it – the media.
The crazy thing is, there’s no excuse for such media ignorance. If they’ve been to a site, surely they could have taken an extra thirty seconds to make sure that the terminology they were using was, in fact, correct. And even if they haven’t there are plenty of experts off and online that would be only too willing to guide them through.
But then I guess it’s hard to fit research into a celebrity-creating/celebrity-baiting agenda. Let’s face it, demolition, the people it employs and its ability to shape our landscape is way less important than Britney Spears’ latest breakdown….right?
Oh, and by the way British media types: it’s only called a JCB if it says so on the machine; that Caterpillar logo really should be a clue!
